Click
photo to play
Length: 3:40
BLITZER: In the
interview, president said he speaks with the U.S.
ambassador there. He speaks with the Iraqi
leadership. He speaks with the U.S. military
commander, General George Casey. And they are telling
him that this is not a civil war. That steps are
moving in the right direction. Albeit a very, very
difficult process.
Let's go to Baghdad. Our correspondent Michael Ware
has been spending some time outside what's called the
Green Zone. He gets out there. You did an excellent
piece yesterday, Michael, on the al Qaeda movement in
Iraq right now even in the aftermath of the killing
of the former al Qaeda leader there, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi.
Is this or is this not a civil war?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly
feels like a civil war to the people on the street.
When you go out and mix with people, something that
President Bush's sources, General Casey and
Ambassador Khalilzad, simply cannot do. You get the
sense from people that it feels like a civil war
"when my neighbor's body is showing up dead on the
street or on the rear allotment, and it's happening
repeatedly.
"I can't send my kids to school because they have to
cross sectarian lines. The marketplace blew up three
days ago for no apparent reason." These people say
this feels like civil war.
And if President Bush talks about Ambassador
Khalilzad and General Casey as his sources of
information, these people -- everyone within the U.S.
forces here -- live in a bubble. They couldn't be
further distant from the Iraqi reality than humanly
imaginable, Wolf?
BLITZER: But there are, what 140,000 plus U.S. troops
in Iraq. Presumably they go out there just as you do.
They try to meet with Iraqi people. And they report
back to their commanders on what they see and hear.
WARE: Yes, there's a number of things here. For a
start, we live in what the military calls the Red
Zone. We live with Iraqis. We have Iraqis all around
us. So it's very easy for us to get the mood of the
people. We live with it. As petrol prices go up or go
down or whether electricity was on last night or not.
The only time the military visits someone's house is
for a military purpose. And it's always heavily armed
and ready to go. They can't just visit, sit down and
have a cup of tea and an honest chat.
The other is what commanders are sending from the
field doesn't necessarily reach the top. And if it
does, there's so many disconnects in between and so
many filters that I time and time again come across
commanders and intelligence officers expressing such
frustration at what they see is the distortional
reinterpretation of their work before it reaches
people like the president. Their commander in chief,
Wolf.
BLITZER: You spent some time with al Qaeda operatives
inside Iraq in recent days. How do you do that,
Michael? How do you get out there and you meet these
guys. You got to be scared out of your mind.
WARE: Well, Wolf, I've been here since before the
invasion, entering three-and-a-half years. I'm now
awaiting my fourth Ramadan, or holy month offensive.
So I've been here a long time.
I met many of these people when they were still
reeling from the aftermath of the invasion. This is
Saddam's top generals, his brigadiers, his colonels,
his top intelligence elite. And so I've known them
since they became disillusioned to the insurgency. So
this is not easily done. And it's come over a long
time, Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael Ware is a brilliant, brilliant
reporter. An extremely courageous guy. And a nice guy
as well. Good luck over there and be careful,
Michael.
Thank you very much.